New game audio books from Damian Kastbauer and Aaron Marks + a look at Facebook 360’s audio tech:

Knowledge is power, and the insight offered in these three compilations will help you become a more well-rounded sound designer. Covering topics such as 360 audio rendering and encoding, game audio networking, creating strong contracts, the importance of community, and all you could want to know about technical audio, these collected works will help you strengthen your weak points no matter where you are in your career.

Damian Kastbauer has served a multifaceted role in the game audio community. As the Technical Audio Lead at PopCap, he has worked for companies like LucasArts, Telltale Games, Naughty Dog, and 2K. And if you learned Audiokinetic’s Wwise in the last few years, you’ve read his expressive writing. Recently, he released his Tales of a Technical Sound Designer, Volume 01 & Volume 02, which is available on paperback and PDF. This collection features his writings over the past 10 years with his contributions to the “Aural Fixation” column in Game Developer Magazine and his Audio Implementation Greats series for Designing Sound. It also compiles his Lost Chocolate Blog with inclusive interviews and community-focused commentary. For technical insight and altruistic inspiration, you can purchase the two volumes here.

Aaron Mark’s Complete Guide to Game Audio – 3rd Edition is an all-encompassing blueprint for sound designers in game audio—whether you are finishing your university work, or are a pro transitioning from the film or music industry. Now in its 3rd Edition, this book contains even more advice from respected industry experts like Marty O’Donnell, Richard Jacques and Tom Salta, and it has discussions about changes in the industry to help you have a more informed outlook. Plus, it now has sample contracts to keep your working relationships with clients smooth, and advice about terms, negotiations and the all-important networking. If this sounds like the advice and guidance you need, you can pre-order the book here.

Under the hood of Facebook’s 360 tech is a write-up on Facebook’s Engineering blog about the 360 audio discussion from Video @Scale, their invitation-only technical conference for engineers of large-scale video platforms. It covers topics such as encoding and rendering with the FB260 Encoder tool and the Rendering SDK for Oculus, sound quality, bandwidth, spatialization for different audio assets, latency, and much more. The post also covers workflows and gives insight into where Facebook is heading in 360 audio. If these topics sound intimidating, don’t worry – the post is written with a respectable lack of jargon, and it introduces each area clearly and succinctly for those who are coming from a general audio background. To read more about their thoughts and current challenges, check out the post here.